Vehicles mounted with lifting apparatus for carrying a single container are known in the prior art. For example U.S. Pat. No. 5,816,764 to Bohata discloses a truck for lifting and transporting containers, wherein the bed of the truck may be pivoted between horizontal and vertical positions and a set of forks attached to the bed may engage a single container. One drawback of such prior art is that the apparatus are limited to carrying one load at a time. Another drawback of such apparatus is that they rely upon relatively expensive and heavy-duty mechanical parts, which are not suitable or cost effective for many applications.
There is a need for apparatus for loading and transporting containers that are capable of carrying more than one container at a time. As well, there is a need for apparatus that are adapted to be mounted on vehicles of relatively smaller size and weight so as to be more versatile and cost effective.